The administrative personnel structure is defined by the following elements:

Employee groups represent a primary subdivision of personnel. An employee group defines the extent to which its employees place their labor at the disposal of the enterprise. The Personnel Administration component makes a significant differentiation between active, pensioner and early retiree employee groups. In customizing each employee group is defined with a one-digit identification.

The employee group has the following organizational functions:

• Employee groups allow you to generate data entry default values, for example, for the payroll accounting area or an employee’s basic pay.
• Employee groups serve as selection criteria for reporting.
• Employee groups constitute an authorization check unit.

The standard system contains a few specimen employee groups. You can copy the employee groups that are delivered or if necessary adjust them to your company specific needs.

Employee subgroups subdivide employee groups. Within the employee group for active employees, for example, a distinction is made between the following employee subgroups:

• Hourly wage earners
• Monthly wage earners
• Pay scale employees
• Non-pay scale employees

In Customizing, the employee subgroup is defined by a two-character, alpha-numeric code.

All of the control features for the personnel structure are defined at the employee subgroup level. The most important control features are as follows:

• The employee subgroup grouping for a personnel calculation rule enables you to standardize or differentiate how an employee is dealt with in Payroll. For example, this grouping enables you to control whether an employee’s remuneration is calculated on a monthly or hourly basis.
• The employee subgroup grouping for the primary wage types enables you to determine which wage types are permissible for which employee subgroups.
• The employee subgroup grouping for collective agreement provision enables you to restrict the eligibility of pay scale groups to specific employee subgroups.
• The employee subgroup grouping for the work schedule enables you to determine which work schedules are permissible for which employee subgroups.
• The employee subgroup grouping for time quotas enables you to specify which attendance and absence quote types are eligible for which employee subgroups.
• The employee subgroup grouping for appraisals enables you to set up appraisal criteria dependent on the employee subgroup.
• The employee subgroup enables you to define data entry default values, for example, for the payroll accounting area or an employee’s basic pay.
• The employee subgroup is a selection criterion for evaluations.
• Employee subgroups are an authorization check unit.

You set up your company-specific personnel structure at the employee subgroup level. The standard system contains a few templates for employee subgroups. You can copy the employee subgroups that are delivered or if necessary adjust them to your company specific needs.

The payroll area is an organizational unit in the Human Resources department, which can be defined for a unified payroll accounting area. Based on organizational assignment criteria, all of the employees who are accounted simultaneously in the payroll run are assigned to the same payroll area.

In Personnel Administration Customizing, the payroll area is defined by a two-character, alpha-numeric code.

As a rule, payroll is run per payroll area. Based on the payroll area, the system determines two pieces of information for payroll:

• The number of employees for whom a payroll accounting run is to be performed
• The specific payroll dates

The specific payroll dates are determined as follows:

• The general payroll period is stored as a period modifier for each payroll area. For example, payroll can be performed on a monthly, semi-monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly basis.
• The exact dates are stored for each valid payroll period.
• The exact dates of the current payroll period are determined by using a payroll control record, which attaches the period that is still to be accounted to the previously accounted period.

The organizational key consists of a 14-character field that you can structure as you wish. Specific control and rule tables can help you do this. The organizational key is part of the authorization concept in Personnel Administration and Organizational Management. This gives you flexibility if you enhance the authorization check.